Infos now free

Most people won’t know what Infos is. It was a database supplied by Stats NZ that had all their major data series in and allowed you to query different data series over time etc.

When I worked at Parliament I was a major user of Infos – one of the few that had it installed on my PC. Most people just asked the Parliamentary Library to dig the data up for them. I have missed Infos (and the Library) since I left.

Stats NZ has now made Infos free to the public, as Infoshare. This was actually due to happen in July – it is a pity it has been delayed, but better late than never. Information the Government holds should generally be made freely available to the public (who do not get paid for filling in the surveys in the first place), and it is good to see this happen. I will be using it often.